Daniel F. Crowley, Jr, AKA, The Quiet Man passed away quietly on July 20, 2018. The doctors believed his organs failed, but anyone who knew him knew he was dying slowly of a broken heart since the love of his life, Verina C. Crowley, passed in June of 2013. He visited her grave and his final resting place quite often and left her yellow roses, her favorite! He was a fierce competitor and loved to play sports. He also loved Boston sports, golf, Jack Daniels, his friends and family, teasing his friends and family, old westerns, and veal parmigiana, not necessarily in this particular order.
Dan was the first born to Dan Crowley, Sr. and his wife Dorothy Haley during the great depression. His mom passed when he was in high school at Rindge Tech and he took a job working on screw machines to help support his brothers Jack and Bobby and his sisters Dorothy and Kathy (“Pinkie”). He was drafted into the United States Army and was stationed in Germany after WWII where he was a small airplane mechanic. He returned home to a demanding job as a machine operator at Cambridge Screw Company and his friends introduced him to his wife. He worked in the same field up until shortly before his passing. It grounded him and he loved seeing the guys in the shop as well as the women in the office who would tell him how handsome he was (much to his wife’s chagrin when she was alive). After dating for a few years Verina decided it was time for him to “do something” or get off the pot. She laid down the law and soon the Quiet Man was shopping for a diamond so they could spend their lives together. This would not be the last time his love would have to help him with decision making, but he was “usually” grateful for her stoic “guidance”.
Of modest means they squirrelled away enough to purchase a home to raise their four boys in North Cambridge. Dan would not only work extra hours every weekday and every Saturday, but taught his kids the meaning of hard work and dedication by never missing a day’s work and never missing Sunday Mass. His kids would often joke that they weren’t sure whom he feared more, God or Verina! At the end of his busy week he would nap on Friday nights before heading to Puggy’s with the fellas for a couple pops and some “Liar’s Poker” with his friends. This most humble and honest man was also known to be a master of the game. Sundays during football season were a real joy as he and several of his friends and co-workers had season tickets for the Patriots. There were often unused tickets and his boys and his friend’s boys would reap the benefit and come to know each other and their dad’s friends. His boys went on to have season tickets for many years during the Patriots Dynasty and when they gave up the tickets there was often a Sunday gathering for the game and some good food.
Dan could never understand how he and the love of his life came to have a cottage in West Wareham and a home in Cambridge and would often say, “I would have nothing without her”. She was truly his world. He would call the cottage their little love nest. They would go out to dinners and early in the morning when she was still sleeping he would slide out into the darkness and be the first golfer at Little Marion Golf Course. While waiting for the sun to come up he would scour the course for lost balls while sipping a black coffee and smoking a cigar. He would often joke that the several THOUSAND golf balls he had in boxes were our inheritance when we would raid the supply to replace our lost balls. Poison Ivy and unseen barbed wire ended these expeditions when he came home with another fresh wound across his forehead after crawling under a fence. Verina exclaimed rather firmly, ENOUGH!! And with that, the inheritance stopped growing on that day.
Dan loved his Verina, “My Girl”, as he called her and loved all his family. There is little doubt a broken heart ended his time on earth so he could rejoin her. He will be missed by all, whom he came into contact with, but a love like this doesn’t come around every day and we knew we had to let him go. He is survived by his sons; Dan III, Jack and his wife Cindy, Jim, Joe and his wife Sue. He was also immensely proud of all his grandchildren and their achievements and survived by Lauren, Justin, Connor, Caroline, Robert, Brenna, Johnna, and Ryan. He is also survived by his youngest sibling and sister, Kathy Crowley-Stephan, his niece Charlene Paula, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. In Lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Home for Little Wanderers, 10 Guest St., Boston, MA 02135.

Affiliations

US Army